A taper-locking ferrule for use with optical fibers is provided. The taper-locking ferrule has an interior channel The interior channel is tapered from one end to the other end and has a threaded interior portion. In an embodiment, the threaded interior portion covers approximately half of the interior wall of the channel. A slit may extend along the threaded portion, from the exterior surface of the device to the interior channel, dividing the threaded portion of the interior channel into sections and allowing the interior chamel to slightly expand. The threaded portion of the interior channel grasps and secures an optical fiber.
Optical fiber ferrules have been around since the early 1980s. An optical fiber ferrule is generally a plastic, ceramic or metal portion of a fiber-optic plug which secures the end of the optical fiber and precisely aligns the fiber optic to a socket. In previous ferrules, the optic fiber is inserted into the ferrule and secured with an adhesive, such as an epoxy. The adhesive is designed to give the optical fiber long-term mechanical strength and also help prevent contamination of the fiber optic from the surrounding elements. If the alignment of the ferrule is not exact, a poor connection will result and the quality of the signal is diminished.
Over the years many optical fiber ferrules have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No.: 7,845,859 to Roth et al discloses a ferrule assembly for terminating at least one fiber of a ribbon cable in a ferrule, where the ferrule assembly is positioned in a housing of an optical connector. The ferrule assembly includes the ferrule having a mating face, at least one groove for receiving the fiber and at least one through-hole. The ferrule assembly also includes an alignment member holder having at least one alignment member and providing a first channel for the ribbon cable, the alignment member being insertable in the through-hole of the ferrule and having a first length such that an end of the alignment member extends beyond the mating face of the ferrule when the ferrule assembly is assembled. The ferrule assembly further includes a carrier body attachable to the alignment member holder, the carrier body having at least two biasing member capture portions, each of the biasing member capture portions providing an opening for capturing a biasing member therein when the alignment member holder and the carrier body are attached. The carrier body further provides a second channel for the ribbon cable, the second channel being disposed between the biasing member capture portions of the carrier body and being contiguous with the first channel when the alignment member holder and the carrier body are attached.
Further, U.S. Pat. No.: 6,789,950 to Loder et al discloses a fiber optic connector system for connecting at least one optical fiber cable mounted near the edge of a planar substrate to a backplane, each optical fiber cable including a plurality of optical fibers and a terminating ferrule, the longitudinal orientation of the optical fibers within the terminating ferrule defining a longitudinal axis and a forward direction, the ferrule having a first longitudinal range of motion and a ferrule spring element having a longitudinal ferrule spring force. The optical connector system includes a substrate housing assembly and a backplane housing assembly. The substrate housing assembly is designed to be mounted on the planar substrate and includes at least one ferrule receiving cavity for receiving the optical fiber ferrule, and a substrate housing assembly spring. The substrate housing assembly has a longitudinal freedom of motion with respect to the substrate, the housing assembly spring controlling movement of the substrate housing assembly along the longitudinal axis and having a longitudinal spring force, wherein The backplane housing assembly defines at least one longitudinal receiving cavity, the receiving cavity having a frontal opening along the first surface of the backplane member and a rear opening along the second surface of the backplane member. A frontal door covers the frontal opening and a rear door covers the rear opening.
Telecommunication companies are always looking for ways to move information faster. Currently, telecommunication companies use a typical set-top box installation. Installers at these telecommunication companies either use a simple Ethernet RJ-45's with a pre terminated cable, or they use 1 mm plastic optic fiber (“POF”) with connectionless transceivers with good results. The RJ-45 is a registered jack standard for a modular connector using 8 conductors, which specifies the physical male and female connectors as well as the pin assignments of the wires in a telephone cable. The disadvantage in using a 1 mm POF is that bandwidth is limited therein limiting the length of the cable that may be used.
In typical ferrules, a subscriber connector (“SC”) is typically built around a long cylindrical 2.5 mm diameter ferrule, made of ceramic (zirconia) or metal (stainless alloy). A 124˜127 um diameter high precision hole is then drilled in the center of the ferrule, where stripped bare fiber is inserted through and usually bonded by epoxy or adhesive. The end of the fiber is at the end of the ferrule, where it typically is polished smooth.
Almost all fiber-optic connectors have one thing in common which is the alignment of the ferrule to the fiber optic core. The ferrule is usually on the nose or the front of the connector and does the alignment of the fiber to the fiber-optic transceiver. The ferrule usually has very high concentric tolerances as this is a direct reflection on how well the fiber is aligned to the outside of the ferrule. Some of the new technologies in use now are connector-less transceiver like the Optolock® (like FIG. 21) which is manufactured by Firecomms in Ireland which uses the outside jacket and the alignment and holding feature of the fiber core. These types of transceivers work well on polymer optical fiber that has a very large core fiber and the alignment tolerances are not as accurate. However, with small core fiber optics these connector-less transceivers do not have the alignment capabilities to produce good results.
With modern manufacturing processes in the art of cable making over the last decade, the refinement of the concentricity tolerances between the buffer, the fiber core and or the jacket have become very exact.
However, existing methods fail to allow the easy installation of current fiber and hardware so that the large bandwidth can travel long distances accurately. A need, therefore, exists for an easy installation process which uses current off the self devices. Accordingly, the present taper ferrule is provided which will allow this larger bandwidth to travel longer distances without losing content.